Greasewood man gets two life terms in double homicide

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — A Greasewood, Ariz., man has been sentenced to two life terms plus 35 years after being found guilty by a federal jury June 28, following a two-day trial, in the 2002 shooting deaths of two Ganado High School students.

Kenderick Begay, 29, was sentenced Oct. 1 by U.S. District Court Judge David G. Campbell to two concurrent life sentences, meaning they are to be served at the same time, and 35 consecutive years, to be served after the life terms.

The announcement was made last week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix. Begay was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

The convictions followed a five-year investigation by the FBI and Navajo Division of Public Safety’s Criminal Investigations Unit.

Evidence at trial showed that Begay shot Ortisha Chee and Jerel Taliman, both 17-year-old high school seniors, in the early morning hours of March 28, 2002.

Witnesses testified they were driving with Begay when he stopped the victims’ car on a remote road in the

Greasewood area. One witness stated that he watched as Begay retrieved a .30 semi-automatic rifle from his truck, walked up to the passenger side of the victims’ car and shot eight to nine times into the vehicle at close range.

Taliman died at the scene but Chee managed to drive her car into a nearby housing area and seek help. She died three days later.

Begay’s sister, Mecheryl Begay, was convicted May 23, 2007, by a federal jury for lying to FBI agents and committing perjury before the grand jury during investigation of the murders.

Mecheryl told both the FBI and the federal grand jury that she had been home asleep on the night of the murders.

However, evidence at trial showed that she had been at a party with several other individuals and, after the party, had driven around the Greasewood area.

The evidence further showed that she and her group met up with the two Ganado students just a short time before they were shot and killed. She also lied to the FBI about her whereabouts on March 28, 2002, just hours after the victims were found, and lied to the grand jury during her testimony two years later.

Mecheryl Begay faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. Her sentencing is set for November before U.S. District Judge Frederick Martone.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ann Birmingham Scheel and Kimberly Hare handled the prosecution.